Repsol Honda‘s Casey Stoner continued his dominant streak in both practice sessions ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, the first of six races in eight weeks. Stoner set the fastest time of the weekend, 1:42.940, in the final stages of the second session, even though both sessions were marred by rain showers.
San Carlo Honda Gresini‘s Marco Simoncelli held onto second place in both sessions, with the controversial Italian coming under fire from the home crowd over his coming together with Dani Pedrosa in the last race only 0.528s behind Stoner. Andrea Dovizioso grabbed a late 3rd place spot in the closing moments of the second session on the second Repsol Honda machine.
The pair of Yamaha riders came in 4th and 5th, with Jorge Lorenzo leading Ben Spies by just 0.2s. The satellite Yamaha of Colin Edwards grabbed 6th place, but the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider will now miss the rest of the weekend and the next grand prix, Silverstone next weekend, after falling midway through the session and fracturing his collarbone in the process. Cal Crutchlow on the sister Yamaha came in 7th.
Nicky Hayden had the honour of being the fastest Ducati in both sessions, with the American beating teammate Valentino Rossi who finished 9th overall, 1.859s and 1.904s behind Stoner respectively. Hiroshi Aoyama rounded out the overall top 10 on the second San Carlo Honda machine, after failing to beat his fastest time set in the first session.
Randy De Puniet had led for most of the second session but eventually finished in 13th on the lead Pramac Ducati, whilst Toni Elias had a good session, finishing in 12th overall on the LCR Honda machine. Ãlvaro Bautista seems to be back to 100% fitness, and finished in 11th on the Rizla Suzuki.
Loris Capirossi finished behind his teammate in 14th, after failing to beat his time from the first session. 15th place went to Karel Abraham on the Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati, with Hector Barbera bringing up the rear in 16th on the Mapfre Aspar Ducati.
